MxMIndia

Category: TV

  • For a country mainly mad about one sport, India has a surprisingly large number of sports channels on TV (17!). Is the market sturdy enough for more?

    Does India need more sports channels?

     

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Indian television has some 17 sports channels, almost as many as – if not more than – Hindi GECs. Star Sports recently announced a new sports channel: Star Sports 2. Sony Six debuted in the market not so long ago.

     

    Is India’s a big enough market for so many sports channels? Is the audience base growing or becoming fragmented? With channels facing the perennial question of differentiation, how are the advertisers responding to the plethora of sports channels?

     

    MxMIndia spoke to sports channel heads, advertisers and media planners to find out what they think.

     

    Muralikrishnan B, Country Manager India, eBay

    Sports channels are definitely a viable proposition, for a country where more than 50% of the population is young – less than 25 years. The core of sports channel audience is 15 to 35 yrs. Almost 1/3 rd of Indian population sits in that bracket – 400 million. Whether the number of sports channels can stay in the market or not will depend upon what kind of content they are able to show – in other words what are the tournament rights they are able to capture!

     

    Overall the sports viewership base is growing. Multiple sports channel option throws up better opportunity for advertisers. For eCommerce brands, youth is one of the most important Target Groups. And to connect with youth, besides music & movies, the sports channels are one of the key strategic options. Thus, as an advertiser trying to reach out to younger TG, we are very optimistic to the development.

     

    Sports viewership can be categorized in two parts:

     

     

    a) General viewing of sports channel (somewhat like default viewing) – it will depend on convenience of the viewer. And is more driven by what the person chooses to watch when he has remote in his hand, and is influenced by general viewing behavior of individual. Normally the sports enthusiasts tend to watch TV either early evening (younger ones, after school/college) or late evening (young adults & beyond). Both the segments also try and catch up on viewing during day time over the weekends Thus, the key viewing time (thus prime time) can be considered as 5 to 7 pm, 10 pm to midnight for Monday to Thursday and weekends day time.

     

    b) Appointment viewing of specific event – this is primarily driven by the desire to watch a particular event, irrespective of when it’s being telecast. The enthusiasm is more to catch the live action. In such cases, the viewer will adjust viewing behaviour to be in front of TV when the live action is on. For such occasions, that’s the prime time.

     

    With digitization setting in, I possibly foresee more sport channels launched/announced targeted at more niche audience – may be focused on specific sports. For instance, there can be a channel on golf or on motor racing. For all those sports which appeal to niche but influential and high value audience. On channels differentiating their positioning, as on date, seems to be a very difficult proposition where 90% viewership is driven by cricket. And the channel’s fortune depends upon what rights they have of the top cricket tournaments.

     

    Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd

    With the limitations of analogue cable being systematically eliminated, the feasibility of existence of multiple sports channels in India is sound. The onset of digitization has ensured that fans are able to watch sports of their choice on a regular basis. This bodes well for the broadcasters and the viewers.

     

    These are early days still in the implementation of digitization, but it is heartening to see the progress that has been made so far. There is a definite surge in reach for the sports category in the digital markets. With digitization enabling delivery of niche sports as well, there is an increase in interest and confidence from advertisers in the genre as they are seeing the value of tapping into properties which have targeted audiences and are being accurately measured.

     

    It is imperative to remember that that sports is mainly consumed around live events. There are huge spurts in viewership during these telecasts and these could be airing at periods other than the traditional prime time band. As long as it is an event of interest, fans will continue to tune in. Sports broadcasters are actively acquiring properties in sports like football, tennis, hockey, golf and badminton. This is happening as a result of digitization unlocking value and making the delivery of other sports feasible. By spreading the pie across sports instead of being completely focused on cricket, channels can position themselves around their unique portfolios.

     

    In the immediate future, I expect existing sports broadcasters to continue to focus on strengthening their portfolios. New channel launches are still some time away.

     

    Navin Khemka, Managing Partner, Zenith Optimedia

    Sports channels are purely led by content. They will only survive if they have the content to sustain. The audience base is definitely growing beyond cricket. With more and more international sports being held in India, the interest levels are rising. It has also a lot to do with how we are performing individually or as a team in a sport.

     

    Advertisers are responding positively. The clutter on cricket and entry level costs are high. Other sports are offering all advertisers an opportunity to target audiences efficiently. It is a mixed bag. For instance, when EPL happens, it is India’s prime time. Advertisers who get in for the season; this gets balanced out.

     

    With digitization we will see emergence of specialised sports content channels within various genres. This will be more for the purists who follow the game. We will see emergence of golf racing soccer etc led specialist content channels. Positioning only on content can work in sports.

     

     

    Vijay Rajput, Chief Operating Officer, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd

    The typical Indian sports fan today has evolved a lot over the years. He is consuming not just cricket but a variety of sports like soccer, golf, hockey, motorsports et al. Today, fans get an increased opportunity to see, understand and appreciate nuances of various games given the number of sports channels that are available in the country. The best of sporting content from across the world is getting beamed live for the benefit of Indian audiences, which is bringing in more and more fans closer to their favourite sporting action.

     

    With better technology, quality production values and the best of TV talent, sports channels in the country have come a long way. We believe that with our superior content line up extending for the next few years across sporting genres, all our channels will be the top choice of sports fans in India and South Asia. Our endeavour thus will always be to acquire the best of sporting content across media and consistently aim to provide the sports fan with quality entertainment round the clock.

     

    Till now advertisers have responded admirably to the content on sports networks as sports can bring in and bind audiences across socio-economic demographics in a manner which other genres find difficult to achieve. What remains critical therefore is to constantly offer a superior value proposition to the advertiser so that he remains interested in associating with a channel and its sporting content. STAR Sports 2 is being launched especially for the Indian sub-continent keeping in mind the growing need of Indian sports fans to consume more and more of quality sporting action. I am sure advertisers will see huge value in what we have to offer.

     

    Sports does not follow typically a GEC pattern where-in you have a defined prime time. Our insights always point out that sports is best consumed live. The pleasure in watching a game unfold live with its twists and turns is what attracts fans. Sports is like an unscripted reality show which throws up surprises every minute.

     

    With digitization, individual preferences will indeed play a key role and we as a network are prepared for that.

     

    Deepali Naair, Country Head – Brand, Corporate Communications & Customer Service, L&T General Insurance Company Limited

    To an advertiser, the events matter more than the channel which is televising it in India, currently. Sports Channels in India still have an opportunity to extend the life of the main sporting event. For instance, if IPL is a two month long event, there is opportunity to capitalize one month before and one month after the IPL, with content around the IPL. There is a scope of making a two-month event into a four-month-event with pre-and-post-content. This logic can be extended to any sporting event with behind the scene coverage, past winners, legends, analysis, etc. Sports channels can also monetize the content digitally far more rather than leaving it to digital content suppliers; this may help in building channel loyalty.

     

    There is also a growing viewership of HD Sports channels, which reaches the top-end segment of consumers.

     

    When it comes to fragmentation, it is here to stay: across screens, across audiences and genres. While the audience for tennis, F1 is there, it is still small. But a change in sports preferences will not happen immediately; such phenomena occur with a generation gap. The audience of the next decade, especially teenagers, might also gravitate towards football, apart from cricket.

     

  • PepsiCo India has announced its association with eight out of nine Pepsi-IPL teams as the 'Exclusive Pouring Partner' for the upcoming IPL 2013

    Pepsi bags exclusive pouring rights with 8 teams at IPL

    By A Correspondent

     

    PepsiCo India has announced its association with eight out of the nine Pepsi-IPL teams as the ‘Exclusive Pouring Partner’ for the upcoming Pepsi-IPL 2013 tournament. After winning the title sponsorship for the biggest annual sporting event in the subcontinent, PepsiCo’s partnership with almost all participating teams further demonstrates its commitment to the sport of cricket and the ability to maximize value from the tournament.

     

    The association will extend to PepsiCo’s robust food and beverage portfolio including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7UP, Mango Slice, Mirinda, Aquafina, Tropicana, Lay’s, Kurkure, Aliva and Quaker Oats. These team partnerships, along with the title sponsorship coupled with the robust on-air, on-line and on-ground plans will ensure maximum visibility and engagement for PepsiCo’s brands.

     

    While activations with Delhi Daredevils will be led by both Pepsi and Mountain Dew; Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors will be led by Pepsi; Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab by Mountain Dew; Chennai Super Kings, The Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7UP. Additionally, these associations also bring with it exclusive pouring rights, joint marketing association opportunities along with other benefits for both food and beverage brands.

     

    On securing the pouring rights with eight teams, Gautham Mukkavilli, CEO, Beverages, PepsiCo India Region said, “At PepsiCo, we believe that winning the title sponsorship of Pepsi-IPL was just the beginning and we are committed to back it with smart, strategic and high-decibel marketing and activation plans that will help us maximize the tournament’s potential. We are thrilled to announce our association with the eight franchise teams and will continue to build a campaign that will change the face of sport sponsorships and activations in India. Cricket lovers can look forward to a lot more excitement, never before experiences and a memorable sporting season”.

     

    PepsiCo has also signed the co-presenting broadcast sponsorship deal with Multi Screen Media (MSM), owners of the Set Max channel that will be broadcasting Pepsi-IPL 2013. Apart from a strong on-air play of its portfolio, PepsiCo is working on a series of customized innovations with MSM to maximize its association with the broadcaster.

     

  • Reaching out to audiences across markets, the studio plans to launch new movies in five languages

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures enters regional cinema space

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures has announced its advent into the regional cinema space after a successful two years as an integrated movie studio. This move comes in the light of the brand’s vision to be a pan-India studio and reach out to the audiences who consume cinema in varied regional languages.

     

    Jayesh Muzumdar, who is currently Director – Commercial affairs, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, will now also be heading the regional films business, reporting in to the COO.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats

    Speaking on this development, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 said, “Foraying into regional cinema is in line with our vision for Viacom18 to have a strong presence in the regional entertainment space – both television as well as films. Geographic and linguistic segmentation is a key component of our growth strategy as we move ahead, and the good news is that we have already firmed up our plans in five key regional markets.”

     

    In its inception stage, the studio’s regional division has a pipeline of six movies across Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali. The Tamil and Telugu titles include the remake of the studio’s 2012 hit Kahaani.

     

    Vikram Malhotra, COO of Viacom18 Motion Pictures commented, “With incremental growth coming from regional markets, Viacom18 Motion Pictures will now extend its understanding of path-breaking content and innovative marketing skills to connect with regional audiences.”

     

  • The economics of the broadcast business would not hold up for very long anywhere if there was 'unlimited inventory' in any market and this is one of the reasons the economics of the broadcasting industry in India is so weak

    Peter Mukerjea’s Media Mullings: Less is More!

    By Peter Mukerjea

     

    So, is it a surprise that broadcasters are unhappy with the TRAI for enforcing the 10+2 per hour of commercial time on TV channels?

     

    Short-term pain for long-term gain in simple terms is what it will be. But no one wants short-term pain.

     

    Many of my friends in the broadcast industry are up in arms about this ruling, but when we talk about this, to be fair, they do conclude that it is actually the right thing to do for their business. After all, it will see the advertising rates go up, which will benefit their individual revenue lines and their shareholders in turn. Once the 10+2 regulation sets in and becomes standard operating principle, investors both national and international will re-look at the Indian broadcast industry as an investment opportunity. They will see that the supply-demand ratio is finite and not infinite as it is today. Infinite makes no ‘big picture’ sense.

     

    Advertisers, brand managers, small, medium and large will not like the sound of this 10+2 directive either, as it will mean that they will need to increase their TV budgets if they want to continue to get the same ‘secondage’ as they’re getting today. There just won’t be enough ‘secondage’ to go round and advertisers could get into a bidding war for the best TV properties. But the flip side to that is that they will get a secure share of voice. Surely advertisers see more value in their brands being 1/20 than being 1/30. And, if they tell you they don’t care about that, then that’s the biggest load of rubbish you will hear and you can’t let them get away with that.

     

    And all credit to the TRAI who have now really begun to act like the regulator it should be ie to look at the big picture – digitization, commercial time, quality of service and so on – but not get drawn into the itsy bitsy litigation attempts of the various stakeholders in the business.

     

    There cannot be a single broadcast market anywhere in the grown-up world, where there is ‘unlimited inventory’ of commercial time available to broadcasters. The economics of the broadcast business would not hold up for very long anywhere if there was ‘unlimited inventory’ in any market and surely this is one of the reasons the economics of the broadcasting industry in India is so weak and will not improve so long as it continues with broadcasters taking more ads into their programmes/movies at the expense of the quality of service to the viewers.

     

    And why should sports be an exception to the rule? The ad usage will need to be modified to cater to the differing nature of each sport, as tennis differs from cricket and from football or F1, but the 10+2 rule should stay the same.

     

    All promo tags, bumpers, drop-downs, split screens are all possible so long as they stay within the 10+2 guideline. It’s not that difficult. Of course broadcasters will resist. Someone once said – “Resistance after all, is the best form of seduction.”

     

    In the final analysis of broadcasters’ economic sustainability, growth and profitability, the adage “less is more” will ring true and makes sense for all broadcasters but the faint-hearted or the economically very weak as they will simply not survive, in a survival-of-the-fittest environment.

     

    They will simply have to get better at what they do and compete, or fall over and get out of the business.

     

  • IBF has called for withdrawal of the notification and re-initiation of a participatory dialogue that helps make self-regulation of advertising minuteage in line with global standards a reality

    IBF asks for withdrawl of TRAI notification on ad duration

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) is deeply concerned about the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s notification which will force television broadcasters to a maximum of twelve minutes of advertising in every hour of broadcast.

     

    Like several industries that continue to reel from the after-effects of the global economic recession, India’s television broadcasting industry has been suffering too. The industry is largely dependent on advertising revenues for its economic sustenance. IBF has been working with TRAI over the last several months to arrive at a way forward on the quantum of advertising duration. Its fundamental stance has always been to self-regulate, aligned with globally practiced standards.

     

    According to the official statement issued by IBF, the trickle back effect from the first stage of digitization is yet to begin. Carriage fees introduced in 2008 remain a burden, especially for the more than 500 smaller channel operators. Cable TV tariffs remain frozen at 2005 rates. HD TV and pay channel revenues are just about beginning to happen and will take time to start providing economic value. These factors need concomitant addressing. Regulation on just advertising minuteage will have a severe impact on the survival of the broadcasting industry from amputation of a critical arm of the fourth estate.

     

    IBF has called for withdrawal of the notification and re-initiation of a participatory dialogue that helps make self-regulation of advertising minuteage in line with global standards a reality. None of the industry players are in disagreement with the overall objective of the notification. The staging of doing this has to be in line with economic sustenance of the broadcasting business and is best aligned to the full value of digiti zation becoming a reality.

     

  • According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, complete digitization has been achieved in four cities, 8 cities have achieved more than 75% and 28 cities achieve more than 50%

    Digitization reaches 67% in Phase II cities: MIB

    By A Correspondent

     

    Fresh data from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting states that 67 percent of the digitization target has been achieved in the 38 cities which are set for digitization by March 31. According to DTH operators and MSOs, a total of 108 lakh Set Top Boxes (STBs) have already been installed in Phase-II cities against the target of 1.60 crore, registering overall achievement of over 67 percent digitization.

     

    Hyderabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Allahabad have achieved nearly 100 percent digitization, according to the MIB, and 75 percent digitization has been achieved in eight cities – Jodhpur, Thane, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Pune, Faridabad, Nashik, and Ghaziabad.

     

    Analysis of the data further reveals that out of 38 cities to be digitized in Phase II, 28 cities have achieved more than 50 percent digitization individually.

     

    The ministry has also stepped up the public awareness campaign to sensitize consumers on the benefits of digitization, through print and electronic media. Both All India Radio and private FM broadcasters are airing radio jingles, the ministry has brought out a print advertisement in all 38 cities in the respective regional languages, SMS campaign is under way, and television channels have been frequently running video spots, blackout advertisements and scrolls.

     

    Meanwhile, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has reiterated its commitment to television broadcasting digitization. As mandated by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting under the Cable Television Network Amendment Ordinance 2011, for the 38 cities notified in the Phase II sequence of the digitization roll out, television broadcasters will comprehensively switch off all analogue signals from midnight Sunday, March 31.

     

    The IBF board has stressed that such a move is necessary to smoothen the transition from analogue to digital cable TV. IBF members have been running regular awareness campaigns to educate consumers on the various benefits of digitization. Some of these benefits include better picture and sound quality, enhanced services such as high definition, video on demand content and eventually, higher quality content. In addition, digitization will also enable viewers to choose and pay for only those channels they want, rather than pick from packages with fixed prices. Digitization will also bring about greater transparency between broadcasters, cable operators and consumers.

     

    Man Jit Singh

    IBF President Man Jit Singh said, “IBF and its members are committed to the successful implementation of digitization in India. Our awareness campaign has received very good response. We are confident that the successful implementation of DAS-II will tremendously improve the quality of television content and consequent viewership in the country.”

     

  • TV channel Zoom has rolled out a 30 percent hike in its advertising rates with immediate effect, stating that this is in line with the true value of its offering

    Zoom hikes ad rates by 30%

    By A Correspondent

     

    TV channel Zoom has rolled out a 30 percent hike in its advertising rates with immediate effect, stating that this is in line with the true value of its offering.

     

    In a release, the channel said that it has consistently enjoyed a loyal and ever-growing audience base. Zoom dominates the Bollywood category with over 45 percent channel share and delivers to a significantly higher premium audience when compared with other music, entertainment and lifestyle channels.

     

    Avinash Kaul

    Avinash Kaul, CEO of ET Now, Times Now and Zoom, said, “Zoom’s strong and consistent viewership figures capture just one dimension of the brand’s popularity among its audience. Over the last few years we have seen a staggering response from Zoom’s fans in the real world engaging with the brand on Social Media platforms from across the globe. Zoom generates over 1.3 crore impressions and sparks over 1 lakh interactions every day in the social media space – it is the biggest TV brand on social media in Asia. Our esteemed clients believe in the power of Zoom as a platform to reach out to their urban, upscale consumers and the fact that Zoom has the largest client base in the category is reflective of that trust.”

     

  • Star Plus is available on the Sky Go service in the UK from March-end, and is the first Asian television channel to join the service

    Star Plus now on Sky Go in UK

    By A Correspondent

     

    Star Plus is available on the Sky Go service in the UK from March-end, and is the first Asian television channel to join the service.

     

    Yeshpal Sharma

    Yeshpal Sharma, Senior Vice-President, Star UK & Europe, said, “With the launch of Star Plus on Sky Go, we are extremely pleased to offer our viewers yet another exciting viewing experience to enjoy the best of Asian television entertainment, anywhere in the UK, anytime, on the go.”

     

    Luke Bradley-Jones, Sky’s Director of TV products, commented, “Sky Go continues to offer Sky customers even more value by being able to access even more shows across a range of devices. The service is currently enjoyed by over 3 million customers and we will continue to bring even more content to customers as part of our continued commitment to offer people the best TV, and the best ways to watch.”

     

    Sky Go offers Sky TV subscribers live TV and a library of on-demand content from Sky at no extra cost, which they can watch online, on iPhone, iPad or selected Android smartphones with the Sky Go app.

     

  • After refreshing the content and introducing four new shows, Zee Khana Khazana is all set to present its first television ad, offering solutions for everyday kitchen woes

    Khana Khazana’s first TVC to help women fight kitchen woes

    By A Correspondent

     

    After refreshing the content and introducing four new shows, Zee Khana Khazana is all set to present its first television ad. Through the ad the channel aims to reinforce its positioning through its tagline ‘Ab Khana Sawal Nahi, Lajawab Hai!’

     

    ‘Kal kya banaoon?’ the thought behind the TVC, captures the mindset of every housewife, which is full of questions when it comes to making the everyday meal. It is an insight, picked from their everyday life, which reverberates with them daily. The TVC shows a day in the life of a housewife who battles with the question kal kya banaoon all day, without getting an answer from anyone. Finally, she finds the answer in her own living room, with Zee Khana Khazana. Mansi Parekh, a popular television actress will be seen portraying the role of the worried Indian housewife, with ‘kal kya banaoon’ thought always on her mind.

     

    Amit Nair

    Amit Nair, Business Head, Zee Khana Khazana says “We realized that today’s homemaker is fighting an everyday battle in the kitchen, all alone; because there is no bigger challenge than rustling up tasty, exciting and nutritious meals for her family, day after day. Inevitably, she grapples with numerous food-related questions every day. With this ad we want to strengthen Zee Khana Khazana’s commitment to solve every woman’s food-related query. Scarecrow has done a fabulous job in presenting our proposition on screen. We are confident that our ad will appeal to our target audience.”

     

    Agency name: Scarecrow Communications

    Creative Team: Raghu Bhat, Manish Bhatt, Sarvesh Raikar, Kapil Tammal, Sushil Chintak.

    Account Management: Arunava Sengupta, Amitabh Sreedharan, Ankita Ray, Benny Thomas

    Director: Krish (Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi)

    Producer: Satish Fenn

    Production house: Ever After

     

  • The marketing plan targeted relevant platforms to ensure high visibility and create an impact like never before

    Movies Now capitalises on Star Wars franchise

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Star Wars with its franchised series has grown to be so influential that it has grossed over $27 billion. The franchise has influenced generations for over three decades. This March, Movies Now took it a step further by showcasing six blockbuster movies for the first time in HD.

     

    The marketing plan targeted relevant platforms to ensure high visibility and create an impact like never before, which included over 3000+ spots on all national and regional channels, outdoor and OOH presence across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad, high-impact innovations to support the high frequency outdoor campaign, tie-up with Cafe Coffee Day, which enables an outreach to the youth across all 8 metros – Special Star Wars games designed to engage customers, engagement with over 5 million digital audience through Facebook, digital games, apps and digital plan. Apart from this, through a Facebook contest, Movies Now has special edition original Star Wars Darth Vader light sabres that will be up for grabs. While the creative agency for the campaigns was BBH, Posterscope handled the OOH.

     

    Ajay Trigunayat

    Star Wars, even though a very well-known franchise has been shown numerous times on television. Why did Movies Now make it a loud campaign this time? Ajay Trigunayat, CEO, English Entertainment Channels, Times Television Network reasoned, “While Star Wars is a very well known in the west, it is almost unknown to young Indian masses. The campaign objective was to introduce Star Wars in India.”

     

    However, this is not the first time that Movies Now undertook a large campaign for movie promotions. According to Mr Trigunayat, the English movie channel has undertaken a lot of innovative campaigns in the recent past. “A lot of first’s have been achieved during a short span of time in the English Movie Category and TV category as a whole. For Spectacular Spielberg we leveraged a new technology: augmented reality to maximize brand engagement. Thanks to innovative technology and a great idea shoppers in malls in Delhi and Mumbai could interact with dinosaurs. Avatar was the most stunning campaign in OOH where we used a relatively new technology in printing which gave the entire campaign a spectacular 3D effect. In our most recent property Movies Now had tied up with Skyfall and created the largest synchronized campaign with a Hollywood film.”

     

    To keep the engagement with its fanbase of over 2.4+ million on Facebook, there were daily interactions through posts, contests, games and polls. And as the channel insists, “We have got an overwhelming response for Star Wars. The property has been sponsored by Samsung Galaxy Grand and has a host of associate sponsors Airtel, HP, Asian Paints Royale, Standard Chartered, Nivea and Lux ONN,” he said while not revealing the marketing spends on the Star Wars series.

     

  • With HBO pushing its two new movie pay channels, it is time to ask whether there is a market for 'premium' ad-free channels in the Indian TV viewing arena

    HBO’s ad-free channels: good enough to pay more for?

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    The campaign to promote the launch of two channels – HBO Defined and HBO Hits – by HBO Asia and Eros International Media has started. The premium advertising-free movie channels plan to redefine the pay TV movie space in the country.

     

    The channels available on DTH operators – Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV – bring the best of Hollywood and Bollywood together. The channels are currently on air and are available for a free preview in the initial phase of the launch.

     

    HBO Defined and HBO Hits will showcase content through HD and SD feeds on Dish TV and SD feed on Airtel Digital TV. These will be offered at a special introductory price of Rs 49 and Rs 69 for SD and HD services, respectively.

     

    MxMIndia finds out if there is a market for such ‘premium’ channels in India and if they’ll be survive the competitive market:

     

    Anilkumar Sathiraju, AVP and Head South, DDB Mudra Max

    While there is a market for ad-free channels, am not too sure how long will they be able to survive. Today, in a scenario where 600+ channels exist, there are many channels which are still yet to make a mark. In that situation, while viewers are likely to sample an ad-free channel(s), I am unsure if they will be able to sustain for long.

     

     

    Divya Radhakrishnan, managing partner, Helios Media

    HBO is a subscription based channel globally. It started accepting ads due to the distribution structure of the Indian TV industry. Now with digitization and DTH getting seeded across homes in India, the viewers are getting used to pick and pay for their channels and not just a bundled offering from the cable operator.

     

    As much as it’s not a good thing to hear for our business, ad avoidance always adds greatly to TV viewing experience especially in the movies and sports space. Hence if reasonably priced, it will have takers in the high-end homes. Mainstream channels in their HD avtaars get talked about more for its minimalistic ads more than the channel clarity.

     

    Having said that, the content will need to be extremely compelling for the consumer to shell out more bucks. Old titles, repeated zillion times on TV in the past coming in an ad-free environment may not hold that much appeal however latest releases may do so.

     

    Dhruv Jha, GM (Content and Experiences), LodestarUM

    There is an emerging space, I have heard consumers/viewers comment, “Let’s watch it on HD, virtually no ads.” Movie viewing experience without ads can be more pleasurable. There is a discerning viewer and with rising incomes and free time being at a premium… pay for channels will start playing in a niche targeted segment.

     

  • Cartoon Network, Film Kraft Productions and Toonz Animation have partnered to create four animated movie sequels based on the Bollywood movie Krrish

    Animated Krrish on Cartoon Network, soon

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a first-of-its-kind endeavour, Cartoon Network, Film Kraft Productions and Toonz Animation have partnered to create four animated movie sequels based on the Bollywood movie Krrish.

     

    A series of four movies will be created between 2013 and 2014, the first of which, titled Kid Krrish, will air on Cartoon Network on July 14, 2013.

     

    Siddharth Jain

    Siddharth Jain, Managing Director, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. said, “At Turner, our aim has always been to push the boundaries and deliver innovative and entertaining content across all our channels. Cartoon Network, the ultimate destination for fun and animation, will now be home to Bollywood’s biggest superhero in a whole new animated avatar. The Krrish franchise has been very well received by kids across the country and we are certain that they will be enthralled and excited to watch this adaptation of their superhero on Cartoon Network!”

     

    These movie sequels will follow the childhood adventures of Krishna (from the movie Krrish) who discovers that he can help people and save the world with the special powers bestowed upon him by Jadoo (from the movie Koi Mil Gaya). But in order to protect his identity and loved ones from the wrath of his enemies, he must don the mask of superhero Krrish!

     

    Rakesh Roshan, Director, Film Kraft Productions (India) Pvt. Ltd. said, “I have always pushed the limits by making different kinds of entertainment films and have always planned new strategies to promote them. Since Krrish 3 will be ready for release this Diwali, I wanted to revive the memory of Krrish with children and the newer generation who may have not seen Koi Mil Gaya or Krrish. I am happy to have collaborated with Turner, the oldest and most popular children’s channel in Asia and Toonz Animation, who are the best in creating animated content in Asia, to make this first of its kind animated film series, where a live action film is adapted to make animation series for television.”

     

    “The animated Krrish franchise are fun films that are guaranteed to be a visual treat with mass appeal. It is not every day that 11 year olds get to be super heroes! We are thrilled about partnering with the legendary Rakesh Roshan and Cartoon Network. This is a huge milestone as far as Toonz Animation is concerned,” said P Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd.